AUGUST is the month of gravity defying teenagers.

This annual phenomenon affects a growing number of our young people, usually pictured levitating in school grounds with huge smiles on their faces and clutching pieces of white paper.

I am, of course, alluding to GCSE and A-Level results days when photographers across the region gather together our brightest young talent and ask them to leap into the air for the obligatory picture that accompanies all such coverage of these results.

But do we have a cause to jump for joy?

Well, actually we do. North-East young people boasted the highest A-Level pass rate in the country.

Yes, we need to do better in the A and A* grades, but we should not lose track of the fact that North-East pupils are making the most progress in achieving the pass grades.

There was a similar tale in the GCSE results. We achieved our best ever GCSE results, with the biggest national leap in A-C pass rates.

These results are fantastic and our students, teachers and educational establishments should be applauded for the progress made in recent years.

What is required now is matching this undoubted talent and obvious thirst for knowledge with the employment opportunities we have in this region, which not only keeps these intelligent young minds in the North-East, but plugs any potential skills gaps that might be emerging across North-East industry.

I am a strong believer that it is the mutual responsibility of education and industry to support each other – no one can do it without the support of the other.

The importance of vocational qualifications must be considered alongside university degrees and college courses, no longer the poor relation in the education family tree.

We need to encourage more businesses to take on apprentices, which is one way of working in partnership with the education sector to get the right skills-base.

Nifco has strong connections with training providers across the region, including mature relationships with Middlesbrough College and Teesside University, Stockton Riverside College, Darlington College and more recently Stockton 6th Form College. Nifco engages frequently with local schools in the area, including Egglesliffe, Conyers and Bishopsgarth among others. In addition, Nifco has worked closely with the South West Durham Training Centre over the last six years and these relationships are paying dividends for us, with the right skills entering our business as a result.

However, we need to start early, and we are working hard at Nifco to get a strong structure in place to educate young people at school age about their options, and to encourage them to pursue studies that will lead them towards careers where there are jobs waiting for them.

Companies in all sectors need to get active and support educators to produce people with the skill set and ability to meet their needs. It is not somebody else’s job to train the next generation – it is everyone’s responsibility. And it starts now.